Washburns prepare for 3-year Peruvian medical mission

ByKATIE COLLINS Brush News-Tribune Writer

Posted:
02/08/2013 12:20:19 PM MST

As their family continues to grow to include John, wife Crystal, son Caleb, daughter Hannah and another bundle of joy due in July, the family has also been busy fundraising for their upcoming trek to Peru, where Dr. John Washburn, a Brush High School alumnus, will begin treating patients in remote areas of the Andes who have little or no access to health care otherwise.
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The mission is clear and the goal within sight for family practitioner Dr. John Washburn, whose past voyages to Peru made such a profound impact on the 2001 Brush High School graduate that he and his growing family have decided to make a home of the area near the Diospi Suyana hospital in south-central Peru to bring lifesaving treatments to natives of the remote area.

During the summer of 2003, Washburn made the trek to locations in the country's Andes Mountains, along with his Wycliff Bible Translating Center comrades, to provide medical care for natives of the area who, in the past, have had to endure nearly two-day trips to be seen by doctors.

The heart-wrenching stories he encountered during the experience persuaded Washburn to turn his passion for aiding Peruvian patients into a mission that will soon have this son of Kieth and Marcia Washburn of Brush making a new home there.

He won't be alone in his adventure, however, as Washburn's wife Crystal, who is pregnant with the couple's third child, and son Caleb (2) and Hannah (10 months) will join the joyous father for this experience of a lifetime that will have the family living in Peru for three years.

In the meantime, the Washburns have been raising funds for the mission and have currently earned nearly 80 percent of their financial need. With the family preparing to depart in April of 2013, John and Crystal have also been busy training for the excursion.

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"Initially when we go to Peru we will go to language school," noted John. "I already speak Spanish but I need to get faster and more efficient so I can get directly to the point in my conversations," he said. "For Crystal, we want her to learn Spanish well enough to not feel isolated in the community, and to be able to make friends."

John has already begun a series of language learning courses which also have him taking in all the exotic sounds found in the Quechuan language, spoken widely through the more remote areas by native Quechua peoples.

"They have given us a method to learn a new language," noted John. "Because for many of us, where we are going there is no Rosetta Stone for the language, and it has no written form. This is a method to learn the language orally from others in the community."

John, Crystal and even little Caleb have already gotten a head start on their Quechuan as each has learned to count to 10 in the language.

Cultural training also has been on the agenda and for John, the lessons have been especially useful.

"In many of the examples of cultural exchange that I learned from the courses, they note that in taking care of health needs in Peru, one must first address spiritual needs," said John, "and treating people as a whole person is a main goal for the hospital there and for me. It involves addressing both physical and spiritual needs, not just ignoring an entire part of who a person is."

In one such example given during the cultural lessons, a dilemma found in Africa was discussed. In many areas of the continent, people believe diarrhea comes from a curse put on by someone upset with them. Their traditional medical practice has them first visit a Shaman who can decipher the culprit of the curse. The cursed must then seek out the one who put on the curse and make amends with gifts of chickens, pigs or the like. They then go back to the Shaman to have the curse officially removed and it is only then that they visit a hospital.

"We find the same predicament in the Andes," said John, "which is why patients will frequently come to the hospital a week into their illness or more, when they should have been treated much earlier."

"We all have different world views," he continued, "and what we are hoping to do in Peru is essentially finding similarities in our views to make a bridge across to help them see the information from our perspective, as well as respect their beliefs."

"I've always felt that God has been calling me to go out and meet people's needs," continued John, "especially those peoples with little or no access to health care. I found more frequently that people are more likely to open up to having their spiritual needs met than physical which is why we like to treat them as a whole person, addressing both their physical and spiritual aspects."

With the couple hoping to make the trek in April, and Crystal due to have her baby in July, the couple also looks forward to, as John jested, "have a Peruvian baby, without doing all the adoption paperwork."

The couple hopes that people who are touched by the plight of Peruvians might support the endeavor by giving online, or even by simply sending thoughts and prayers their way.

To aid in the family's mission, to provide funding, support or simply to follow them on their life-changing journey and to receive information and updates from their time in Peru, contact Dr. John Washburn at john.washburn@SIM.org to get e-mail updates, follow their blog through Crystal's photography and upcoming Peru updates online at johnandcrystalwashburn.blogspot.com or visit http://SIMUSA.org/give to donate to their cause by entering missionary ID #038045.

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